Lots of things will polish glass, but it comes down to (a) how fast (b) large-scale surface quality (profile, ripples, hills/valleys) (c) small-scale quality (pits, scratches, roughness).
Paper laps were used, at one time. Felt pads, PTFE, wax and more besides pitch.
The best polish is probably from ion-beam machining, in a vacuum chamber. Aries in the Ukraine used that for high-end amateur optics but I guess not anymore.
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